Last week, Rogers, Telus and Bell submitted their proposals to the CRTC, detailing lower-cost, data-only plans for wireless users, which started at $25 for 400 MB of LTE data from Rogers, and $30 for 500 MB from Telus and Bell, respectively.
These proposals for data-only plans have now been slammed by critics as unreasonable offerings, while Canadians who have commented on the public consultation have similarly called them out as being inadequate and downright insulting.
Open Media told CBC News, “It’s embarrassing and quite frankly it’s rude to think that these are functional plans,” said Laura Tribe, the non-profit consumer group’s executive director.
Tribe says the ‘Big 3’ should offer lower-cost data-only plans based on the recent holiday $60/10GB promo plan, but “Instead we’re seeing $30 a month for 500 megabytes being pitched.” She says “It’s outrageous.”
To date, there have been 251 comments left by Canadians on the public consultation process. Below, we’ve listed some comments clicked at random posted on the CRTC website.
Matthew Couto from Mississauga, Ontario, commented “The data only plans proposed by the incumbents are an absolute joke,” further telling the CRTC “Please don’t let them continue to gouge us!”
Vincent Piette from Toronto commented, “These data only rates plans are a joke. I was just [in] Europe and with Vodafone which had free roaming across all Europe I have purchased a sim card for 10 euros which gave me 3gb of full speed LTE data for 30 days. The incumbents are really disrespectful of Canadian customers.”
Victoria Grant from Toronto said “There are tablet plans that are $10 for 1GB so why would Canadian Telcos think that $30 for 500 MB would be sufficient. These proposals are a joke and a farce and I implore the CRTC have Bell, Rogers and TELUS go back to the drawing board.”
Telecom researcher and PhD candidate at Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communication, Ben Klass, was frank in his comments to CBC News, saying “These companies have never been interested in serving people who just want the bare-access minimum,” adding “They’re really low balling it.”
Fido offers a tablet data-only plan for $15 with 3GB of data, but is an add-on plan and only for eligible postpaid mobile customers (correction: clarified to note the $15/3GB is for add-on only for mobile postpaid customers, as noted by Rogers in an email).
Rogers commented on the CBC story to say “We are proposing data-only plans at an economical price so our customers can stay connected.”
Telus told the CBC, its prepaid brand Public Mobile already offers inexpensive data-only plans, while a spokesperson said it offers “a wide variety of flexibility and choice for Canadians.”
The ‘Big 3’ argue the CRTC need not intervene when it comes to lower-cost, data-only wireless plans, because competition will mandate prices and ensure they stay in check.
But critics such as Klass disagree, noting Canadians can only get fair deals if the CRTC steps in and pressures the ‘Big 3’ into offering better offers, such as the mandated $25 skinny TV packages.
“Companies are going to charge as much as they can,” added Klass, if there’s no public oversight.
Want to submit your comments to the CRTC regarding these lower-cost data-only plans from the Big 3?
Click here to get started–then click on the ‘Submit’ button under “Call for comments – Lower cost data-only plans for mobile wireless services – Public record: 1011-NOC2018-0098”, as highlighted below.
Your comment goes on public record and you can choose to add writing in the form of a comment, or in opposition or in favour of the ‘Big 3’ proposals. the last day to submit a comment is May 23, 2018.
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Something interesting is how most of all the comments on the CRTC’s website say that the big three needs to lower their prices, but no real analysis of why it’s that.
I would like to see real analysis like the ratio of customers in remote areas versus the coverage provided, the investments of the carriers in deploying Fiber etc.
I know that we pay the highest fees in the world, but I believe there is a rational reason other than them just ripping us up, hence also explaining why CRTC does not do much about it.
Just considering for example the barriers to enter the market, and not just those specific to Canada, but worldwide. When is the last time the UK, US, France etc. had a brand new carrier that is not a MVNO and that did not end up being bought by incumbents, or that is not struggling financially?
I think the fact that carriers like Bell/TELUS are laying fibre from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific might have an impact on operation costs, especially when the ration of territory to cover versus population is super high in Canada.
It’s a much bigger country with varied terrain with relatively low population, so it’s much harder to cover physically and doesn’t reach as many customers as in europe/asia. So we can’t really compare the prices to those places. They’re also trying to recoup $s lost from customers using the plans for VOIP/IM and not using voice/text. But I would love a really cheap data only plan that was like $5/month so that I could use a gps tracker to track my autistic son. $30/month is a bit steep for such a service.
Theres no coverage in the middle of nowhere… just because we have a big territory doesnt mean its all covered. I can barely get coverage in National Parks pretty sure I won’t get LTE in remote areas
It’s not about being in the middle of nowhere. It’s about how many subscribers / population there is in the area.
As soon as you leave metropolitan areas, the subscriber base plummets.
What I want to see is how many customers each carrier has in every city/geographical region.
If you compare the coverage that Canada has compared to the USA. Canada has about half the kilometers than that of the USA. (See coverage https://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/cancellsites.html) A LOT of Canada has no coverage. Saskatchewan and Alberta are the only provinces to have a lot of coverage.So because Canada is large is not a reason. It’s just greed!
“If you compare the coverage that Canada has compared to the USA. Canada has about half the kilometers than that of the USA. ”
There are also way more people in the US and they are more spread out…
Australia has a similarish size and population to Canada.
(MSK=Million square kilometres)
Australia land size=7.692 msk Mobile coverage 2.4 msk, population 24.13mil
Canada land size=9.985 msk, Mobile Coverage 2.0 msk, population 36.29mil
Aus has 15gig plan unlimited call,txt for $48.31CAD (Telstra Mobile), Telus 2gig+2bonus for only $85!
Rogers, 2gig=2gig bonus for $85. (strange that is the exact same as Telus). Bell. same bonus, only $90.
Telstra only became fully private in 2011. Before that it was government owned.
Also, Telstra alone has 18 million customers: Rogers has 10, Bell 9 and TELUS 8.8. You can see that Telstra is the size of two of the big three…
Optus has 6 million customers and Vodafone also around 6 million. So 1 company owns almost half of the market. That must help in terms of costs.
One other interesting thing is… Australia has more cellphones than people (if you add up the number of customers each company has (available on their website) and look at this source: www[dot]sbs[dot]com[dot]au/news/australia-has-more-phones-than-people
That’s why I keep saying we need deeper analysis.
My daughter has sever mental illness – we bought the Tractive 3G gps from Costco but it is also available from Costco. This is a pet tracker y their definition only. I can follow my daughter walking around in stores and even the name of the store shows on the map. A 2 year service contract cost around $200. Way cheaper than any other solution and works great.
Hope this is of some use.
Thank you for sharing. I see it’s even cheaper on their website. Will look into it. Definitely an option.
I have said this before and I will say it again. We need to audit the CRTC officials for any financial dealings or bribes they may be receiving from the big 3.
There are many branches including the Transport Minister too.
Especially since the CRTC was actually born as a department of Bell Canada and then somehow became a government agency.
All optics…as long as it appears the corporations are giving us choices and options, it’s fine according to whichever government is in power at the time.
just rich people how to get more money from poor. make sense right ?
BRING VERIZON
Whenever I’m in Sweden I purchase a 30 day data plan on an iPad SIM card with the carrier 3. They offer 10 GB of data for 30 days for 199kr – which is about $29 CDN. I realize Canada is much bigger, but 500mb? It really is laughable.
RFD has a large thread on the 3gb Fido plan and how to get it without it being an add-on. It even describes how to call retentions a few months later and get the plan for $7.50 or even $0 for a year. I’m at the former level, might try for zero if I can be bothered.